The De­fense chief said Duterte was just “very con­cerned” that the com­mu­nists’ "an­tic­i­pated" mas­sive protests on Septem­ber 21, the 45th an­niver­sary of the dec­la­ra­tion of mar­tial law in the coun­try, “might get out of hand.”

Loren­zana, how­ever, still gave as­sur­ance that mil­i­tary en­force­ment all through­out the coun­try was “very re­mote.”

"[Declar­ing mar­tial law na­tion­wide is] very re­mote to hap­pen. The Pres­i­dent is just very con­cerned that it might get out of hand that’s why he said [it]," Loren­zana said.

"But I don't think that the Left will be able to con­duct the mas­sive demon­stra­tion across the coun­try, dis­rupt­ing [or] dis­abling gov­ern­ment or the lives of the peo­ple. Per­haps, that’s not go­ing to hap­pen," he added.

On Septem­ber 9, Duterte threat­ened to de­clare mar­tial law in the en­tire coun­try, if the com­mu­nist rebels cause "de­struc­tion and trou­ble" in the streets.

The Pres­i­dent said he would wel­come any demon­stra­tion as long as it would not ham­per the pub­lic's lives.

"I will not hes­i­tate to im­pose mar­tial law all through­out the coun­try and or­der the ar­rest of ev­ery­body," he said.

In an in­ter­view aired at state-run PTV4 on late Fri­day night, Duterte was mulling the sus­pen­sion of work in gov­ern­ment of­fices and classes in schools when the com­mu­nist group con­ducts mass protests on the 45th an­niver­sary of mar­tial law.

Duterte, how­ever, did not give a spe­cific date for the dec­la­ra­tion of "hol­i­day," in an­tic­i­pa­tion of mas­sive rally.

"At this early, I am an­nounc­ing that I am or­der­ing a hol­i­day so no one will get hurt, in case of demon­stra­tion and it gets chaotic. There will be no work in gov­ern­ment and classes are sus­pended that day," the Chief Ex­ec­u­tive said.

The Pres­i­dent also ap­pealed to com­mu­nists not to van­dal­ize or burn any prop­erty. He said they might in­stead ex­press their out­rage by burn­ing his ef­fi­gies.

"All I ask is this: Do not van­dal­ize or burn any prop­erty. Just torch my ef­figy. Make an ef­figy that looks like me. You can cre­ate a thou­sand [of ef­fi­gies]," he said.

But for Loren­zana, he was con­fi­dent that the com­mu­nist rebels are not ca­pa­ble to carry out wide protests.

Loren­zana said there was "no in­di­ca­tion" that the group can launch mass demon­stra­tions.

"How do I per­ceive their threats? We have not seen any. Our in­tel peo­ple, or even our field peo­ple, do not have any in­di­ca­tion that there will be mass protests such as wide as the pre­vi­ous year dur­ing the time of [the late dic­ta­tor Fer­di­nand] Mar­cos," he said.